Wednesday, February 1, 2012

Learning to Eat Grapefruit

Here I am, less than 2 months before my 26th birthday, and this week I ate my first grapefruit. And my second, third, and actually probably my first dozen grapefruits! We obviously have grapefruit in the States, and I’ve tried them many times, but on each occasion found them to be sour and unpleasant and therefore I avoided this refreshing fruit, along with its nutrients, for the first quarter century of my life.

Despite the stifling afternoon heat, to many people’s surprise, this isn’t a paradise of tropical fruit. Bananas, oranges, grapefruit, and ankol fruits are the only fruits really available right now. I’ve been eating bananas, but the small supply that the women sell runs out quickly, the oranges aren’t that good, and I’ve been watching the others eat the grapefruit, wishing that I too could enjoy the refreshing fruit. The YES team leader came back to the house one day and proudly professed that he’d just purchased 5 grapefruits for 100cfa (roughly 0.20USD). The very tiny bananas are 3 for 100cfa so clearly the grapefruit is a much better deal. I couldn’t take it any longer. With so little fruit available, the afternoon sun scorching a bit more each day, and a limited budget, I needed to force myself to like this grapefruit. Though I dreaded that nasty tart taste I remembered from prior experience, I asked Pete to let me try just a bite of his to see if maybe I could tolerate it. I braced myself but found it to be surprisingly…not terrible.I should admit that I then cut my first grapefruit wrong, they all had a good laugh, and I had a fun time trying to eat it! As I sat there enjoying the refreshing nourishment from my first grapefruit, I thought about how many other things, like grapefruit, I’d avoided for fear of the displeasure they’d cause, and the nourishment and growth I had been missing out on.

I am so thankful that our God is patient, and faithful. What an awesome way that He chose to remind me that when He’s calling us to experiences which may at first seem rather bitter, He is always truly wishing to bless us.

Eucharisto.

Today I’m thankful for God’s beautiful creation. For the awesome team I am here with. For the amazing sunrises here in the West African plain, for the tall silhouettes of waving palms, for many tiny goats running all over the village, and of course for grapefruit.